Bear!

E Zurcher

Registered
On a solo ride through Jemez, coming down towards Los Alamos, I see what looks like a huge fat dog, hauling ass from the left side of the road. Hard on the brakes he passes in front of me about ten feet from my front wheel. A brown bear, obviously in quite a hurry to get where he was going. Boy was he fast!!!
 
Here's his North Georgia cousin. Third one I've seen while riding!

bear.jpg
 
yikes! that would leave quite a dent..........and then come back to maul you for disturbing him :laugh:
 
You definitely have to watch out for them. They are a pretty regular sight around the Dragon and other nearby areas, and it seems like they're getting more common in suburban areas around here as well.

Here's one that a Chattanooga city officer hit last week. It's not a big one, but he would've been doing 70+ on the road where it happened. The car in the background belongs to a trooper, but I'd like to see what it did to the city car.

Chattanooga Police Black Bear.jpg
 
Yikes!! We have them in our area, but luckily I have yet to ever see one...would hate to hit one, ever, but especially while riding! Ughhh...
 
As we destoy more and more of the bears habitat...this problem will only worsen.

As we build closer and closer to the woods expanding our "urban jungle" its going to get bad on the roads,for us and them.

Sucks to be a bear,sucks to be a biker that meets bear (head on).

RSD.
 
As we destoy more and more of the bears habitat...this problem will only worsen.

As we build closer and closer to the woods expanding our "urban jungle" its going to get bad on the roads,for us and them.

Sucks to be a bear,sucks to be a biker that meets bear (head on).

RSD.

:goodboy::p
 
As we destoy more and more of the bears habitat...this problem will only worsen.

As we build closer and closer to the woods expanding our "urban jungle" its going to get bad on the roads,for us and them.

Sucks to be a bear,sucks to be a biker that meets bear (head on).

RSD.


Thats partly true and only in some areas. In places where bear hunting is severely limited or banned like national parks and suburban areas bears are coming into contact with people looking for food. In other places like around me there are still a ton of bear but you can take 4 or more a year so you dont get them much in the towns but run across them often in the hills and woods.
 
Fortunately, this area is not heavily populated. There have been a lot of wildfires in the Los Alamos, Jemez area due to severe drought and there is a pretty good sized one they have 90 percent contained on Thompson Ridge. I'm sure this bear was displaced by the fire, or maybe he was just late for a date. I was just amazed at hw fast he was going and how little attention he paid to me as I squirmed to a stop. Glad I saw him coming or it could have been pretty ugly. On a good note, most of the areas already burned have recovered well with some nice mountain grasses and shrubbery. Fires are part of the natural cycle and it's amazing to watch nature at work.
 
Bears are fast! If you have ever shot one you would know. They dont go down immediately but if you have a good shot they will drop in about a minute. In that minute they can run nearly a mile unless you double lung them. They are pretty smart too. I watched a young bear digging into the base of a stump from across a canyon. I see him look to his left and duck behind the stump as a hunter walked down the road right above him. When the hunter was clear he started digging into the stump again. That was pretty cool.
 
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